Scholarship for Military and veterans

The deadline of January 5th is rapidly approaching for the Department of Homeland Security’s Scholarship. The scholarship is for students who believe their degree program supports the DHS mission of securing the country and preserving our freedoms. The student must be enrolled in a major or concentration in any of the following areas:

Advanced Data Analysis and Visualization
Biological Threats and Countermeasures
Border Security
Chemical Threats and Countermeasures
Communications and Interoperability
Community, Commerce and Infrastructure Resilience
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response
Food and Agriculture Security
Human Factors
Immigration Studies
Infrastructure Protection
Maritime and Port Security
Natural Disasters and Related Geophysical Studies
Risk, Economics, and Decision Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Transportation Security

For more information please go directly to the website at: http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/

Military Spouse Benefits Updates

Military Spouse Education Benefits Program Reopens but Restricted


D.O.D announced that the MyCAA program will start taking new enrollments on Oct. 25th, 2010. There have been some major changes to the program since its inception with DOD reducing the tuition amount, only approving up to an AS degree, and restricting the program to junior enlisted/ officer spouses.

The military spouse career advancement program is a Department of Defense (D.O.D) program that pays for associate’s degrees, certifications and licensure programs leading to employment in portable careers.

Only spouses of an active duty Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine service member, or activated Reserve member in pay grades E1-E5, W1-W2, or O1-O2 is eligible. There is a maximum amount of $4,000 per spouses with a $2,000 a year cap on funds.

To get started the spouse must establish an account at https://aiportal.acc.af.mil/mycaa.The spouse must have an established and approved career goal and have an approved degree program.

To apply for the program a spouse must call a military OneSource consultant at 1-800-342-9647 to create a career plan and academic goal. The program only covers tuition up and it does not cover fees and other costs.

The program is sponsored by the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and the program is designed to decrease the stress of Permanent Change of Duty Stations (PCS) on military families.

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FINRA Certification Spouse Scholarship

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation's Military Spouse Fellowship offers free training each year to spouses of active-duty or retired Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Army or Air National Guard or reserve component servicemembers.
Fellowships are awarded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and spouses can earn the Accredited Financial Counselor™ certificate. The program covers the enrollment fee, study materials, webinar study sessions and two attempts at each examination for the two required courses.
Interested spouses should have an interest in financial education, be able to complete 400-2000 practicum hours, and have the time to study online for the exam.

The Accredited Financial Counselor™ certificate requires the coursework, two exams and the practicum to be completed in order to be certified.

The program started in 2006 and is a partnership with Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education® (AFCPE®) and the National Military Family Association (NMFA). After accreditation spouses provide services as financial counselors at variety of settings in both the U.S and overseas.

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation is the largest foundation in the United States dedicated to investor education

Currently the scholarship is closed however spouses can sign up for an alert of when the program opens up for next year at: http://www.militaryfamily.org/get-info/support-family/spouse-employment/financial-counselor-fellowships.html

References:
http://www.saveandinvest.org/Military/SpouseFellowships/index.htm
http://www.finrafoundation.org/sai/index.htm
http://www.militaryfamily.org/get-info/support-family/spouse-employment/financial-counselor-fellowship-faqs.html
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The Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarships

The Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarships program is sponsored by the National Military Family Association and the scholarship of up to $1,000 is awarded to spouses of Active Duty, National Guard and Reserve, Retirees, and Survivors. The scholarship can be used for tuition, fees, and room and board for any of the following programs:

 GED or ESL
 Vocational training
 Professional certification
 Post-secondary
 Graduate school
 In-class or on-line
 Full-time or part-time

The program opens for enrollment for 2011 on December 1st and enrollment will be open until January. The scholarship is only for a year and must be reapplied for each following year.

For more information please sign up for the email news alert letter from The National Military Family Association at: http://www.militaryfamily.org/publications/enewsletters/enewsletter-sign-up-1.html

References:
http://www.militaryfamily.org/
http://www.militaryfamily.org/our-programs/military-spouse-scholarships/
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New Tax Laws for Military Spouses

Military Spouses can keep their home state for tax filing purposes, regardless of where the family is stationed. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act says the non-military spouse can now retain the same home state of record/state of residence as the military spouse, as long as the non-military spouse’s sole reason for leaving that state was due to a permanent change of station (PCS) for the military spouse. For more information contact the Base Jag/legal office.


References:
http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123181621
http://www.military.com/finance/taxes/tt/military-spouse-residency-relief-act-and-state-taxes.html
http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/state-taxes/state-issues/1274.html

Free I.T Training for Vets

CompTIA Educational Foundation offers transitioning U.S. veterans the opportunity to take for free any of its seven certification courses. Veterans must apply for the program at: http://www.comptia-ef.org/training/futures.aspx.

The CompTIA Educational Foundation provides veterans with the funding and training to help enter the information technology industry.

The following certifications are eligible for the program:

Certification Courses
CompTIA A+ ®
CompTIA Network+ ®
CompTIA Server+ ™
CompTIA Security+ ™
CompTIA Convergence+ ™

Certificate Courses
CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals
IC³ Global Standard 3 (GS3)

A thousand people have already taken advantage of the program and currently work in the I.T industry. CompTia is a leader in the I.T industry which is heavliy driven by certifications.

The median annual wage for Network and Computer Systems Administrators is $67,000 a year which is more than double the U.S. median wage. According to the Department Bureau of Labor Statistics overage the next 10 years this career field will increase by 30% which is far more than the national average.


References:

http://www.comptia-ef.org/training/futures.aspx.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes151071.htm

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos305.htm

Free SAT & ACT Study Guides

The NFL players, eknowledge.com and Department of Defense sponsor a program for military and their family members for free study guides for the SAT and the ACT exams.

The military member only pays the shipping which is 27 dollars for both study guides. There are also deeply discounted supplemental study guides and LSAT study guides at a discount.


There is a four step process to order the study guides:

1. Enter quantity of each item
2. Click add to cart
3. When finished shopping click "Go to Checkout"
4. For assistance, please contact customer support at
support@eknowledge.com or 951 256-4076

To date over 21 million dollars worth of study guides have been donated for the program with more than 25,000 people taking advantage of the program.

The software can be ordered at http://www.eknowledge.com/military

Veterans, Guard and Reserve -how to earn a college degree

As military academic advisor for the last decade I wanted to point out some resources for veterans.

For those still in the Guard or Reserves there a few options to earn a college degree.

The first is to check with your unit and see what State funded Tuition Assistance programs are available. If you’re in the Army National Guard and you need more information the following website has the points of contact for all the states regarding education http://www.virtualarmory.com/education/ArngPOC/


If you’re in the Air National Guard and not eligible for state TA program then there is second option and that is to take advantage of the free Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) Program. All training in the Air Force is accredited by the CCAF which is a regionally accredited college. Any member who is a skill level 5 or higher can attain there degree for free.The main point of contact for this program is the base level education office and you will have combine this with the third method to attain the general education requirements for the degree.


The third method to earn a college level degree whether your a Veteran, Army or Air Guard or Reserve from any branch is the college level testing program. The Department of Defense pays for CLEP, Excelsior, and DANTES exams for all active, Guard and Reserves. These exams are free and don’t count against you if you fail them. Veterans will have to pay for the exams but can take them on some bases at reduced cost if thier retirees.

You can transfer them for free into a CCAF for general education requirements or anyone whether veteran or active/gaurd may transfer about 99% of a bachelors or associates using the free exam program at a college such as www.excelsior.edu.

There are fees to transfer in all the credits to Excelsior College for a college degree .It is about $750 for an associate and $1300 for a bachelor’s degree however you can use GI bill benefits to cover that cost.

To find the nearest DOD sponsored testing site please go to www.dantes.doded.mil/Dantes_web/apps/tes...testcenterlookup.asp


Another important place to check regarding what educational benefits are available is the military.com website at http://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-benefits/. This website lays out state by state what exact benefits are available for veterans including education.

Good Luck.